By the
time the audience finished trickling in, more than 50 people — including some
present and former City Council members — listened to current council hopefuls
in a forum organized by the Denton Neighborhood Alliance at City Hall Thursday
night.

The
candidates fielded questions from moderator Sue Smith related to tree
preservation, street repair, the proposed convention center and the increase in
the number of closed meetings by the City Council. Some of the liveliest
discussion came after a question that put both incumbents and candidates on the
spot.

Three of the city’s four council seats have a full slate of candidates.
Incumbents Dalton Gregory and Jim Engelbrecht are running for their third and
final terms in District 2 and District 3, respectively. Al Sanchez and Travis
Trawick are challenging Gregory, although Trawick has stopped actively
campaigning and was absent from the forum. Engelbrecht also has two challengers
— Brendan Carroll and Griffen Rice. Joey Hawkins and Phil Kregel have squared
off to replace Chris Watts in District 4.

Kevin
Roden, the incumbent in District 1, drew no opponent in his bid for a second
term, but he participated in the forum, giving spirited responses to many of
the questions.

Residents
with cable access can watch the forum broadcast at 7 p.m. Monday on the Charter
25 or Verizon 39 channels. Rebroadcasts of the two-hour event begin Wednesday,
and will run at 12:30 p.m. Wednesdays, 8:30 a.m. Saturdays and 7 p.m. Mondays
through May 11.

One
resident asked whether, if made to, the candidate would choose between pleasing
constituents or city staff, a question that nearly every candidate quickly
redirected.

Engelbrecht said he would translate “pleasing” to “working with” the
staff and the citizens, insisting there wasn’t a need to choose. Both his
opponents, Rice and Carroll, bristled at the question, too, saying that running
for office meant they expected to listen to their constituents and represent
their concerns in the discussions.

Hawkins
heard the assumption behind the question, saying the city staff wasn’t the
enemy, although sometimes overwhelmed. He saw his role as bringing both sides
to the table. Kregel pointed out that there can be a natural tension between a
city council’s charge to do the right thing and the city manager’s charge to do
things the right way.

Roden
said he didn’t want to please the citizenry, but “activate” them instead. He
said the city is filled with creative, talented residents, as is City Hall.

“But if
people are putting up roadblocks, that will be dealt with,” Roden said.

Gregory
said his job wasn’t to please the people, but to serve them. Yet, he understood
the question, since as a former school principal, he considered waiting out
school board members.

“Maybe
there is some reluctance to implement policy,” Gregory said, adding that the
council can apply quiet, but firm, pressure to meet the goal.

Sanchez
said that educating constituents is an important part of resolving a problem,
as is educating the staff.

“The
staff may not be in tune with what the neighborhood is asking for,” Sanchez
said. “When there’s no agreement, you have to educate both. They may be at odds
because they don’t understand.”

This was
the 11th forum organized by members of the Denton Neighborhood Alliance, a
loose affiliation of neighborhood groups that started about 12 years ago, after
residents along West Oak Street found themselves in a zoning fight with City
Hall, according to one of the organizers, Patrice Lyke, a Denton resident and
English professor at the University of North Texas.

Former
City Council member Mike Cochran encouraged the group’s formation. That way,
lessons learned, such as those acquired by the Oak Street neighborhoods,
wouldn’t get lost if another neighborhood faced a similar issue, Lyke said.
During that battle, residents did vast research on zoning in Denton, in Texas
and in the United States in order to protect the vitality of their neighborhood
and the historic value of their homes.

Lyke said
the first forum was held at the Women’s Club building. The next year, the forum
was moved to the City Hall chambers and taped for the community cable channel.

“Sometimes
we’re clunky with it [the format], asking each question of each candidate down
the dais; and we’re a little constricted being done in two hours,” Lyke said.
“But it’s one of those things. We always do it.”

League of Women Voters forum

The local
chapter of the League of Women Voters will have a pair of candidate forums
Thursday in the Denton City Council chambers at City Hall, 215 E. McKinney St.
The first forum begins at 6:45 p.m. and features candidates for the Denton
school board. The second forum begins at 7:30 p.m. and features hopefuls for
Denton City Council. Both forums are free and open to the public.

The
election is May 11. Early voting begins April 29.

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at
940-566-6881 and via Twitter at @phwolfeDRC.

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